Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord, the Finding of the Kazan Icon of the Most-Holy Mother of God, as well as with the day of the Blessed Prokopius of Ustiug, the fool-for-Christ!

For many believers, Blessed Saint Ksenia is a favourite saint. Her simplicity, meekness, humility, her turning towards God and her struggles as a fool-for-Christ are very attractive. Of course, she is not the only saint of this type that lived in Russia. There were many such saints, but we often remember only of St. Ksenia. Perhaps this is because she lived in Petersburg and not some out-of-the-way village, or because she was canonized relatively recently. Today’s saint, like Blessed Ksenia, took upon himself the struggle of being a fool for the sake of Christ; that is, he willingly chose a life of poverty and appeared to many as a simpleton or even, at times, as a deranged person in his dealings with others. In such a way, he avoided human glory and acquired for himself deep humility.

St. Prokopius by origin was a German. He lived in the second half of the 13th century and was a merchant who had business in Novgorod. There he fell in love to such an extent with the piety of the locals and the divine services of the Orthodox Church that he distributed all of his merchandise and wealth and stayed in northern Russia for the rest of his life. His bold actions attracted the attention of the citizens of Novgorod and he therefore left for Ustiug, where no one knew anything of him. It is there that he struggled for many years. Blessed Prokopius would sleep either on the ground, on a pile of waste or on rocks, or on the church porch, both in the summer and winter. During the day he wandered the streets or sat on a large rock on the shores of the river, watching the boats sail past and praying for those passing by. For some reason the saint always carried with him three fire pokers. After many spiritual struggles, Blessed Prokopius acquired the gift of prophecy and foretold a whole series of natural disasters that the Lord allowed because of the sins of the inhabitants of the city. Although the saint loudly warned everyone of the coming misfortunes, no one paid him any attention. Only when it began to storm and a meteorite appeared in the sky did everyone hurry to the church where they saw the saint praying for the salvation of the city. Blessed Saint Prokopius died peacefully at a ripe old age in 1303.

Once, during the winter, when it was particularly frigid, Blessed Prokopius was seeking shelter from the cold, but for one reason or another no one took him in and the saint was left to fend for himself. He accepted this as the will of God and went to the church where he planned to spend the night on the porch, knowing that more likely than not he would freeze to death. He already lost all hope for physical salvation and began to pray only for the salvation of his soul, when suddenly an angel appeared to him and miraculously warmed him, saving his life.

Today let’s remember that the Lord is capable of sustaining each of us and rescuing us from any type of misfortune, as He once did with His faithful servant Blessed Prokopius. Through the prayers of this wonderful saint, may the Lord God preserve each of us from all calamities and grant us the Heavenly Kingdom!

priest Alexis